Chanting Om on Yoga Day: Modi government may have another controversy coming up

Chanting Om on Yoga Day: Modi government may have another controversy coming up

With a month to go for the second edition of the Yoga Day next month, a
similar row has erupted over a 45-minute protocol released by the
Centre's Ayush ministry, which includes the chanting of Hindu mantra
'Om' during the event.

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New Delhi

May 17, 2016

UPDATED: May 17, 2016 22:10 IST

PM Modi on Yoga Day. Reuters photos

HIGHLIGHTS

The Centre suggests chanting of Om on Yoga Day.

Muslim clerics object to the proposal.

International Yoga Day falls on June 21.

Last year, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself led a mega show on New Delhi's Rajpath as part of the first ever Yoga Day on June 21, a controversy over Surya Namaskar had snowballed into a major political slugfest with the opposition blaming the BJP-led government of trying to impose its Hindutva agenda.

With a month to go for the second edition of the Yoga Day next month, a similar row has erupted over a 45-minute protocol released by the Centre's Ayush ministry, which includes the chanting of Hindu mantra 'Om' during the event.

Here are the top developments:

The Ayush ministry has suggested that the ceremonial Yoga on June 21 should start with a two-minute prayer, beginning with Om.

The event also includes taking the following oath: "I commit myself to always be in a balanced state of mind. It is in this state that my highest self-development reaches its greatest possibility. I commit to do my duty to self, family, at work, to society, and to the world, for the promotion of peace, health and harmony."

A few Muslim clerics, however, have objected to the protocol and alleged that it is another "sinister" design by the right-wing BJP to impose its ideology.

"Chanting Om or similar words is related to one religion. It cannot be applied to the whole country. This is against secularism. This is against our faith and wrong use of power," Shafique Qazmi told India Today.

Another senior Muslim cleric, Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, has alleged that the chanting of Om on Yoga Day is unconstitutional. "They must take back the Om chanting on Yoga Day. This gives birth to insecurity among minorities," he said.

Actor and BJP sympathiser Anupam Kher has dismissed the controversy over the event. "Those who don't want to say Om can say something else. Some people want to politicise everything," Kher said.

Last year, the United Nations accepted India's proposal and declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.